What happens if you’re on a trip in middle of nowhere and you get a flat? You swap to your spare, right? OK, now you are in the middle of nowhere, with no back up. Your only option now is to head to civilization to get your tire repaired, which can wreck a camping trip fast. This weekend I was reminded how few people know about these tire plug kits or how to use them. For under $10 and a few ounces, you can use the same tools that the tire repair shops do. They are available at almost every gas station. You just find the leak (a little soapy water works best) remove the obstruction, rough up the hole with the rasp tool, and push in the sticky rope plug with the other, then re-inflate (which requires a pump of some kind, but even a bike pump will work). This is the same thing they do in the repair shops, but is no harder than changing a tire and sometimes easier as you don’t always have to take the tire off the car (but you will have to jack it up or somehow take the weight off of it). This won’t work for really large blow outs or slashes, but will fix 90% of all tire punctures you encounter and keep your weekend from getting ruined.

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